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Charlie Farren Releases New Solo CD… With A Little Help From His Famous Friend

Publish Notes:

Cider Magazine April, 2013 Bellows Falls, VT.

BOSTON - Veteran Boston solo artist Charlie Farren (who has previously rocked in The Joe Perry Project and FARRENHEIT) releases his latest solo effort, titled Tuesday, with the help of a famous friend. This is great news for not only Farren's faithful fans, who have anticipated a new disc from Charlie since the release of his last solo CD Old & Young
Photo 1 by Micah Gummel. Photos 2 and 3 by Joe Milliken. Photo 4 (Charlie with Brad Delp) courtesy of Charlie Farren.

Indeed, Farren has kept very busy over the last few years in forming, recording and touring with the duo Farren Butcher, Inc. (FBI) with old friend Jon Butcher, all the while writing and recording songs for what would be his next solo release. “This CD, as with all of my CDs are constant works in progress, Farren said in a recent exclusive interview. “At any given time, I have 20-to-30 ideas that I’m developing and recording.

“At some point, it will strike me that I have a collection of songs that will really have a sound or a theme, so I’ll take that subset of songs and will focus on finishing them. Often, that means re-tracking everything to tweak the tempo or key, but other times its just subtle changes.” Yes, Charlie will work through this process on a daily basis. “I’ll spend two-to-three hours on an idea – walk away from it for an hour – and either come back to it or move on to another idea. This happens three or four times a day… that’s my process.”

Farren's latest release, Tuesday, revolves around a song written several years ago by longtime friend, the late-great lead singer of the band Boston, Brad Delp. Charlie explained how he and Brad were once at Rock 101 (WGIR radio) in Manchester, New Hampshire, judging an on-air songwriting contest that the station was sponsoring. “After the show, Brad said ‘Come over to my car, I want to play you something that I’m working on.’ The moment I heard it - I loved it, as it reminded me of the Beatles’ song ‘Yesterday.’ Over the years, I’ve heard several demos that Brad recorded of the song, but he never released it.”

Said Boston-area radio jock Lisa Garvey, "I honestly think Tuesday could become the new 'Yesterday'."

Ironically, hearing ”Yesterday” on the radio is what helped Charlie realize that Brad’s unreleased song was the missing element in tying together his new CD. “I was in my car listening to some of my songs-in-progress on a CD. I had the sense of having the making of a new solo release, but was looking for one more song that would fit the song set.

“After the last song finished I ejected the CD and there was 'Yesterday' playing on the radio. It reminded me of Brad’s song,” Charlie continued. “So I wrote to his family and asked if they’d send me one of Brad’s demos. After I learned it and tweaked it a bit, I really felt it would be a special addition and the completer to this set of songs I was considering for this record.” Farren then wrote back to Delp’s family to ask for their blessing in recording Brad’s song. “I asked each of his family members how they would feel about me recording a version of the song for my new CD and making it the title track…. They were all supportive and enthusiastic."

Charlie recorded acoustic guitar and vocals at his home studio, the FMansion, then brought the tracks to friend and producer Anthony J. Resta to finish at his studio, dubbed Studio Bopnique. Resta has worked with such artists as Elton John, Collective Soul, Duran Duran and Perry Farrell. “Anthony and his engineer, Kuryadi Sutedja, really brought the song to life, adding a cello quartet (Cameron Stone) and great ambient guitars… Anthony calls them Sci-Fi Mambo Guitars!

“I played all the other instruments and sang all the vocals, with the exception of the songs ‘That Kind of Girl’ and ‘Middle of my Heart,’ where I am joined by my daughter Veronica Farren on backing vocals.” All the rest of the new tracks were recorded, produced and mixed at the FMansion and mastered at MasterSuite in Brookline, New Hampshire by Jay Frigoletto. The CD is also released on Charlie's own label, FMan Media.

“I’m psyched to be performing solo again,” Farren concluded. “It gives me a chance to re-interpret all the songs I’ve put out over the years. This is my tenth studio record and along with all my other FMan Media releases, (including a live, solo Retrospective CD/DVD, Live at Club Passim, FARRENHEIT Live at the Roxy, Balloon Live at the Channel and Selections) that’s a lot of songs! Therefore, these solo shows allow me to really put interesting combinations of songs together for the fans.”

Farren officially releases Tuesday at a live performance at the Center For The Arts (TCAN) in Natick, Ma. on Friday, April 4. For more information or to order tickets for the show, call 508.647.0097 or visit TCAN at www.natickarts.org. Also visit Charlie’s web site at www.charliefarren.com.